


Babysitting Jimmy

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [50]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Diapers, Gen, Non-Sexual Age Play, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Wetting, Worried Gibbs, medical conference, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 13:23:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9442553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Ducky is away at a medical conference when Gibbs finds poor Jimmy wet in autopsy. What's a guy to do except take care of the little one?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This one is for a good friend of mine who proposed the idea, but I sadly lost contact with when my Tumblr deleted, and to the best of my knowledge, does not have an AO3 account. If you are said friend, please message me/send me an ask on Tumblr at my new blog, if you want (therealshnuffeluv.tumblr.com), I miss talking to you. If you aren't, you can still message me, I'd love to talk! But especially that friend.

Gibbs walked out of the elevator and into autopsy with a sigh. Ducky was currently in the middle of a medical conference in New York, meaning Palmer and a local Medical Examiner from Metro were the only people working his case, and he was hoping against hope that the reason the Metro ME had left early was that they had already found something, or else he'd have to report it. He walked in the door and was immediately alerted to quiet sniffling. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, bringing all the patience he had left in him together. He wasn't going to get any results from the young medical student today, evidently. "Jimmy?" he said softly.

The sniffling stopped and there was shifting in the corner of the room by the boy's desk. Gibbs walked further into the room and found Jimmy in the corner, with a wet spot on his scrubs but no puddle on the floor. That meant the boy must have been wearing protection but it leaked. "Hey, Jimmy, it's okay. It's just Uncle Gibbs."

Jimmy looked up and rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. "Where's Da? I wan' Da."

"Da can't be here right now, it's just you and me right now, kid," he said softly. "Are you hurt?"

Jimmy frowned in thought before shaking his head. "Can Da come back soon? I wanna go home."

Gibbs silently sucked in a breath. How was he going to explain to the kid that Ducky wouldn't be back until at least tomorrow? How was he going to tell _Ducky_  what had happened _today_? "I don't think Da can come back until tomorrow, kid, but I can call him, and see if he can talk to you?"

Jimmy nodded. "Take your time," he said quietly, but with hope in his voice.

Gibbs nodded and called Ducky on speed dial. The second Ducky answered and inhaled to greet him, Gibbs cut in. "Jimmy showed up in autopsy today and is asking for you. I don't think he's in any condition to be at work, or even by himself. What should we do about this?"

Ducky made a noise on the other end of the line that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a groan. "I...should come back. I can make my excuses and leave."

"You don't have to, Duck," Gibbs said. "I know you want to be there. I can take Jimmy home with me and babysit him. You're coming back tomorrow anyway; I can handle him for one night."

"Jethro, I do not think that wise; you scare the boy senseless when he's nervous. What would happen if he got startled and you moved too fast to comfort him? It would end in disaster!"

"I'll use kid gloves, Duck," Gibbs assured. "Timmy was a lot like this before, too. I can handle it."

"For your sake, I hope you're right," Ducky grumbled. "I wouldn't be back for a good 5 hours; you can't just leave him where you found him that long, and by the time I got back the boy would probably be asleep no matter where he was. I'll come back tomorrow, but you cannot sway me to delay any longer than that."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Duck. Want to talk to your kid?" Gibbs asked.

At receiving an affirmative, Gibbs passed the phone to Jimmy. The boy shifted and smiled as he heard Ducky's voice on the line. "Hi, Da! When can you come home?" The response made the boy's smile falter a little, but he nodded. "Okay," he said, voice small. "I'm tryin' to be good for you, Da, I'm gonna make you proud! I'll be strong!" There was a long stretch of silence where Ducky was speaking, and Jimmy listened attentively. "Uncle Gibbs can help me with my medicine, can't he? I always 'member when to take it, I can show him how to use it so I don' have to. Right?" Ducky said something, and Jimmy nodded. "Okay. Bye Da. I'll see you tomorrow."

He handed the phone back to Gibbs and Gibbs hung up. "We should get you changed before we leave, kiddo. Can you show me where your stuff is?"

Jimmy nodded and stood up, in much better spirits than a few minutes ago. He pointed out of the room and Gibbs took his free hand, leading Jimmy in the direction he was pointing. Once in the locker room, he looked around. "Which one's yours?"

"Number 5," Jimmy said quietly. "Combination is 54-58-4."

Gibbs nodded and opened it up, pulling out Jimmy's spare set of clothes. "On the floor, okay? I'll make this quick."

Jimmy nodded and laid on the floor. Gibbs made quick work of changing him into a fresh pull-up, sweater, and jeans. "Up," Gibbs coaxed, getting the boy to sit. "Do you have your keys?"

Jimmy pointed to the locker. "It's in the bag."

Gibbs turned back to the locker and took a closer look. Surely Jimmy didn't mean the messenger bag he took to work every day. He moved that aside to find a small camouflage duffel bag, what Ducky must use as Jimmy's diaper bag. Gibbs held it up to Jimmy, who nodded and made grabby hands. Gibbs passed it over and closed the locker, standing up. "Are you willing to go back to my place to wait for your Da, kiddo?"

Jimmy nodded. "How long'll it take for him to come back?"

"Several hours. He's leaving tomorrow, so by tomorrow afternoon at the latest he should be back."

"Oh," Jimmy said, pouting. "You sure he can't come back sooner?"

"He could, but you'd still be at my house, probably asleep by the time he would pick you up. Which means you wouldn't see him until tomorrow anyway."

Jimmy frowned and tilted his head to the side, analyzing Gibbs. The man felt himself getting slightly agitated that they couldn't just get going. Eventually, the boy stood up, not at all ruffled. "Okay. If I'm not seeing Da until tomorrow no matter what, then I can go with you!"

Gibbs sighed and grabbed his hand. "Great. I'll get you to my car, and we can go back to my house."

"Are Tony and Timmy gonna be there?" Jimmy asked.

"I...don't know. That's their choice. If they don't want to come over tonight, I won't ever make them."

"Huh," Jimmy said. "Da's almost always the one to invite me over, and I almost always say yes. I don't really go over by myself, unless 's an 'mergency."

Gibbs nodded to let the boy know he was listening as he pushed the elevator button for them.

"...Sometimes I kinda wish I wenta Da's more, but Joe said that I couldn' be too needy, and to just ac...accept what I was given." Jimmy shrugged like he was speaking about the weather. "And Da gives me lots more time than Joe ever did."

Gibbs looked over at Jimmy. "You know, if you told your dad you wanted more time with him, he'd love to give it to you."

Jimmy giggled and shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I don' think so. He always looks so _tired_  when he plays with me. I don' want him to be tired all the time, anyway. Then he'd never be up ta playin' with me."

"I get tired sometimes playing with my kids, but that doesn't mean I don't want to play with them," Gibbs said. "You can ask your dad if you're so unsure about going over so often."

Jimmy crossed his arms and shrugged, pouting. "Maybe," he said noncommittally.

"I'm serious, kid," Gibbs told him, as the elevator opened and they stepped in. "Ask him. More likely than not he'd be thrilled to get more time with you. He looks tired because he has adult stuff to do all day and he hardly ever relaxes. But taking care of you? He's told me it's relaxing, even if it's a bit scary sometimes. You help him, just by being you."

Jimmy looked uncertainly at Gibbs, and Gibbs got the overwhelming urge to smack him on the back of his head to try and get him to understand he didn't have to wonder about the truth in Gibbs' statement. But that would not leave a good impression on the kid, especially since he was just an uncle and not Papa to the little guy. "Try it sometime and let me know how it goes, if you want. It could be like a science experiment. Ask him different times, and record if he says yes or no, and why he says no. That way you can know when he's okay to play with you in the future, too," Gibbs proposed.

"Oh! Okay!" Jimmy said, eyes lighting up at the prospect. "I like science experiments!"

Gibbs nodded, more to himself than to Jimmy, and watched their reflections in the dull metal door as the elevator made its crawl up to the ground floor. He could clearly remember Palmer being jumpy when Ducky said he would be going away Monday until Wednesday. Ducky had confided in him later that Palmer was worried about this exact scenario happening in Ducky's absence. He just hoped that the kid wouldn't freak out too much if he woke up as an adult at Gibbs' place the next morning. Jimmy tended to be nervous around Gibbs at times, but Palmer was worse if that was at all possible.

Jimmy shifted closer to Gibbs and touched his wrist to get his attention. "C-can I...um..." he looked down at the ground. "When we get to your place can I have somethin' to eat? I'm feelin' kinda dizzy."

"You never have to ask if you need it, kiddo," Gibbs said, turning to him. Jimmy looked a little spaced out already. "Can you make it to my house or do we need to stop on the way? It's no trouble to go to CVS or something."

Jimmy shrugged. "I dunno. I think I can wait."

"If you don't know you can, then we're stopping. Do you know what you can and can't eat without your insulin?"

Jimmy nodded. "Uh-huh. Da made me memorize it before he left."

"Good, then you can help out pick what you can eat that you _want_  to eat," Gibbs said as the elevator doors opened. "C'mon, let's get you something to eat so you won't feel so dizzy."

The boy followed Gibbs without question, and Gibbs felt some of the fear Ducky had explained to him when Jimmy was first getting situated. The boy trusted almost everyone to a fault. _If you told him to jump of a bridge and no one he trusted more than you told him not to, he would do it_ , the man thought to himself. The thought sent a chill down his spine. If he trusted Gibbs like this, then he probably trusted Ducky ten times as much. And if the doctor screwed up...he would never be able to live with himself.

Jimmy squeezed Gibbs' hand. Gibbs swallowed. He hadn't felt this nervous since he was just starting out with Tony. He turned to the boy to make sure he wasn't in danger of a fall onto asphalt. They got to his car without any incidents, and after Jimmy climbed in the back, Gibbs pulled out his cell phone, calling DiNozzo. "Hey, boss! We were just talking about you!" the man chirped.

"There was a bit of an incident in autopsy, and Jimmy needs looking after," Gibbs said. "You're in charge until tomorrow. Don't abuse your power."

"Got it, boss. Should we come over tonight?" DiNozzo responded.

"Only if you want to. If not, it's fine," Gibbs assured.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, then, probably. Can't speak for McGeek, but I'm okay for tonight."

Gibbs nodded, even though DiNozzo couldn't see him. "See you tomorrow," he parroted, getting in his car.

Jimmy looked at him from the backseat. "Was that Tony?" he asked.

"That was DiNozzo, yeah," Gibbs said. "I was telling him we were going to my place, so no one would wonder where we were."

"Is he gonna come over and play?"

"Probably not," Gibbs said. "He sounded like he just wanted to be alone tonight."

"Oh," Jimmy said, looking out the window.

Gibbs drove out of the parking lot without another word and turned on the radio so the silence in the car wasn't awkward. Gibbs stopped at a local CVS about 10 minutes from the Navy Yard, and looked back at Jimmy. "Do you want anything in particular that I can immediately find here for a snack?" he asked.

Jimmy shrugged. "Most things're good. I don' want stuff with a lotta sugar, though. I don' wanna hafta worry about blood sugar levels right now. Could I just have animal crackers?"

Gibbs nodded. "Do you want to come in with me, or wait out here?"

"I can wait," Jimmy said quietly. "So long as you're coming back."

Gibbs nodded. "Of course I'm coming back. Give me 15 minutes."

At Jimmy's nod, Gibbs walked into the store as calmly as he could, before almost sprinting down to aisles to where he knew he could find snacks for the kid. He had some diapers in Jimmy's size because Ducky and his kids would come over often enough that it was needed, but he wanted to get the snacks as quickly as possible, so the poor kid in his car wouldn't feel like he was being abandoned. His stomach clenched the entire time he was in the store. Jimmy was high-maintenance, like most younger kids. But Gibbs was clearly understanding Ducky's worries as they focused on Jimmy. There was a lot of trauma in the kid's past; that much was clear to Gibbs now. And he wanted nothing more than to make sure that he never had to live through that again. Only problem was, he didn't know what those traumas were or how to avoid them.

He walked out quickly with the crackers in hand, and found Jimmy sitting where he left the boy in the car. He let out a relieved sigh and got in the driver's seat, passing the crackers back after he had opened the box. "Thanks, Uncle Gibbs," Jimmy said.

"Not a problem, just make sure you don't faint back there without letting me know first," Gibbs told him.

Jimmy nodded and ate the animal crackers the rest of the way to Gibbs' house.

When they arrived, Jimmy looked out the car window, and Gibbs watched him for a few seconds before prompting him. "Something on your mind, kid?"

"I like your house," Jimmy said simply. "'S nice."

"Well, I like to think so," Gibbs said with a chuckle. "I've put a lot of work into it. You gonna come inside with me or just stare?"

At that, Jimmy got out of the car and Gibbs ushered him inside. Once the door was closed, Gibbs breathed a little easier. It was harder for Jimmy to get into trouble inside, where Gibbs could keep an eye on him. "Looks like you'll be staying the night, kid. Want to do anything to pass the time?"

Jimmy looked around, frowning. "Um...do you have blocks?"

"We have lots of blocks," Gibbs said, going to Tony's toy bin and pulling out just a few of the over three dozen blocks thrown haphazardly in there by a two year old who wanted dinner more than he wanted ease of access to toys. "I make them myself."

Jimmy's eyes widened. "You do?!"

Gibbs nodded. "Yup. Easier to move from my basement than a boat, and Tony likes to play with them, even if Timmy isn't over to play too."

Jimmy sat down next to the toy chest and pulled out some blocks of his own, beginning to stack them next to Gibbs' mishmash of a pile. "Do you want to join me?"

Gibbs looked at Jimmy, surprised. "You want me to? Usually I'm forcibly removed from the play area by my kids."

Jimmy nodded. "'S fun to build with someone else! You can make the tower go _super_  high!"

"Let me guess: the best part, though, is knocking it down?" Gibbs asked.

Jimmy grinned. "Mm-hm!"

Gibbs chuckled and took a block, placing it on the top of Jimmy's tower. "Well, I'll leave that honor to you."

"You sure?" Jimmy asked, looking up at Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded.

Jimmy grinned and put another block on the tower. They kept building this way until Gibbs lost track of time and Jimmy was starting to doze. Gibbs looked toward the kitchen in the hopes of seeing the clock, but he couldn't catch it at the angle he was sitting. He shifted to stand and Jimmy snapped his eyes open. "You're not leavin' me, are you?" he asked, worried.

Gibbs shook his head. "No, Jimmy, I just need to see what time it is. Sooner or later you need to eat, after all."

"Good," Jimmy said. "I don' wanna be by myself forever again."

"I won't let that happen if I can help it, kid," Gibbs assured him, walking to the kitchen. It was 4 in the afternoon, meaning that in an hour, Gibbs would have to start thinking about dinner. "Want to watch a movie, kiddo?"

"A movie?" Jimmy asked, blinking up at Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded. "Go through the collection and find what you like; I need to go over what we have by way of food for dinner in about an hour, and you look like you could use some down time."

"Where's the collection?" Jimmy asked.

"In the bottom drawer of the table keeping the TV up. You can't miss it, we have dozens of kids movies."

Jimmy nodded and Gibbs grabbed a sippy cup, filling it with water for the boy to drink during the movie. When he walked out Jimmy was surrounded by nearly the whole collection and was holding up one DVD case in triumph. " _Home Alone_!" he declared. "I wanna watch _Home Alone_!"

Gibbs didn't think that was such a good idea, but at the same time, he didn't know what Jimmy's limits were, and he might be able to handle it just fine. He could have even seen the movie before, for all Gibbs knew. "You sure, kiddo? I don't want you to get too scared to sleep tonight, and the bad guys can be scary in that movie."

Jimmy nodded. "I can watch it! I wanna watch it!"

"If you're sure," Gibbs said, grabbing the DVD and putting it in the player. He handed Jimmy the sippy cup and moved him back to the couch.

Jimmy watched the TV intently as the movie started, and Gibbs moved to the kitchen, sighing. He pulled out his phone and dialed Ducky's cell. "Jethro? Is everything all right?"

"Fine, Duck. I just wanted to ask you something about Jimmy."

"Has something gone wrong with his medication? Do I need to leave early?" Ducky asked, concern seeping into his voice.

"You can breathe easy, Duck. I was just wondering what his favorite food was so I could make him something for dinner," Gibbs said.

"Oh. Right," Ducky sighed. "Well, he'll eat almost anything you put in front of him, and he doesn't request many specific foods. He does enjoy pasta or soup when he's feeling agitated."

Gibbs went to his pantry and moved a few boxes aside. "I've got a can of chicken noodle, will that do it?"

"That sounds perfect," Ducky said. "Jethro..."

Gibbs frowned. Ducky sounded serious. "Yeah, Duck?"

"After this, I do not believe I will go to another medical conference out of the tri-state area. Will I have your assistance should the director try to persuade me otherwise?"

Gibbs smirked. "Yeah, Duck. I'll make sure that's not an issue."

"Thank you, Jethro," Ducky said, before he hung up.

Gibbs closed his phone and took a deep breath. He could make dinner easily, but Jimmy still held him on edge. He didn't know what to expect when it came to the boy. Maybe that was the reason? He looked out at the living room and saw Jimmy was still absorbed in the TV. He felt uneasy despite that fact, though. Grabbing the can of soup and putting it on the kitchen counter, he walked out to sit next to Jimmy on the couch. "What's going on now?" he asked.

Jimmy mumbled something that sounded like "airplane," but Gibbs couldn't say for certain if that's what was uttered. He leaned back into the couch and watched with Jimmy for as long as he could stand the movie, before going out to the kitchen and grabbing a pot to heat up the soup. He was about to turn on the heat when he heard a shriek from the living room. Gibbs dashed out to find Jimmy cowering behind his hands, his eyes peeking through his fingers and watching the screen. "Are you okay, kiddo?" Gibbs asked, going to turn off the TV.

"Sc-scary..." Jimmy admitted.

"Yeah, those bad guys _are_  pretty scary," Gibbs said.

"N-not the bad guys," Jimmy said, tearing up. "They j-just left him. A-and h-h-he was fine with it. But then the bad guys came! H-he didn't...d-didn't...he just...but _I_  can't!"

Gibbs walked over to Jimmy and hugged the boy. "Hey, Jimmy, it's okay. He's older than you, it's okay if you can't be on your own. Besides, his parents had the sense to come back for him; from what I hear your foster parents weren't nearly as nice. Of course he'd react differently. Also, between you and me, I think they made up the fact that he wasn't afraid just so they could have all the funny traps."

Jimmy looked up at Gibbs uncertainly. "Th-they forgot hi-him. A-and the bad guys wan'ed to get 'im. What...what if that happens to me?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Kiddo, your Da and I won't let you be alone between the two of us, unless you say yourself you want and need to be by yourself. And if you're in trouble, there's nothing we wouldn't do to make sure you were okay. Understand? That won't happen to you."

Jimmy sniffled and nodded. "Okay."

Gibbs nodded. "Okay. I was just about to heat up some chicken noodle soup, would you like that?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah? Then how about you come into the kitchen with me, and we can talk until the food is done. Doesn't have to be about anything if you don't want it to, just talking in general is good."

"You don't talk," Jimmy said, uncertain.

"I do if you need it to feel safe, kid," Gibbs said. "Come on. Dinner, and then you get to go off to bed, and in the morning, Da can come pick you up. Sound good?"

Jimmy nodded. A rare, genuine smile lit up his face. "Thanks, Uncle Gibbs."

* * *

The next morning, Gibbs woke up on the couch, with Jimmy on the floor in a sleeping bag, and someone knocking on the door. The man stretched, sat up, and moved toward the door when the knocking turned to pounding. "Jethro?!" A voice called through the door.

Gibbs opened the door to find Ducky standing on the other side, panting. "Only took you 5 minutes! I was starting to worry!"

"Sorry, Duck, I was asleep," Gibbs said.

"Asleep? Jethro, it's 10 in the morning!"

"Yeah, well, Jimmy and I were watching a movie yesterday, and he wound up getting a nightmare in the middle of the night, so I had to talk to him for about an hour," Gibbs said, rubbing his eyes. "Had to be about 3 in the morning, and I wasn't sleeping well before then."

Ducky narrowed his eyes. "What movie?"

Gibbs sighed. "Jimmy picked out _Home Alone_ , but got scared when the criminals got in the house with the boy still inside. Probably wasn't the best idea, but he said he could handle it, and I stopped it the second it was too much for him."

Ducky pinched the bridge of his nose. "Next time, Jethro, remember that Jimmy has abandonment issues."

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, that would be a good thing to keep in mind. Want to come in? I can wake up Jimmy if you need to get going."

"No, let the boy sleep. I could use some tea," Ducky said, walking in.

Gibbs closed the door behind him. "How was the conference?"

"Mm, dreadful. I'm afraid there are always too many people who I don't care to remember, and too few that I'd hate to forget."

"You said that the last time, and I tried to warn ya. No matter how many things you want to see there, the result is always the same," Gibbs chuckled, going to the kitchen and starting his coffee pot, but without the grounds inside so it was just heating up water. "Looks like you'll never learn, Duck."

"Well, hopefully Jimmy has taught me my lesson for good this time. Rule number three, I suppose."

  
_Never be unreachable_. Gibbs nodded.

Jimmy walked in from the living room, rubbing his eyes with one hand and holding his glasses in the other. "Da?" he asked sleepily. "Why're we at Uncle Gibbs'?"

"He took care of you last night while I was away, remember dear boy?" Ducky asked. "I was just going to have some tea while we waited for you to be up. How was yesterday?"

"Was good," Jimmy said. "Uncle Gibbs let me listen to him when I got scared."

"I'm pleased to hear he was good to you," Ducky said, nodding. "I would have his head if he didn't."

Gibbs chuckled. He didn't doubt it. It was why he was very glad that both he and Jimmy came out unscathed from the babysitting experience. Where would _his_  kids be if Ducky killed him?


End file.
